Jamison looks to convert former ARCO Tower in DTLA into homes

Project would turn the hexagon-shaped office building into nearly 700 units

Jamison Properties' Jaime Lee and 1055 West 7th Street in Los Angeles
Jamison Properties' Jaime Lee and 1055 West 7th Street in Los Angeles (LinkedIn, Google Maps)

Jamison Services, a leading developer of office-to-home conversions, wants to turn the former ARCO tower in Downtown Los Angeles into apartments.

The Koreatown-based company has filed plans to convert the 33-story office building at 1055 West 7th Street into 691 apartments, Urbanize Los Angeles reported.

The granite-and-glass offices at 7th and the Harbor Freeway is home to Los Angeles County’s L.A. Care health plan, which will move into 370,000 square feet at 1200 West 7th Street next year. 

The 617,900-square-foot ARCO Tower, built in 1989, was once the headquarters for the oil and gas firm.

Plans call for turning the hexagon-shaped office building into 691 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, ranging from 538 to 1,304 square feet. The office-to-home conversion following the county’s exit would include nearly 48,000 square feet of theaters, fitness rooms, lounges and business centers. 

As an adaptive re-use project, the project would not be required to include affordable housing. Likewise, no additional parking would be required beyond its garage next door for more than 1,100 cars.

The outside of the 464-foot tower, designed by Gin Wong Associates, would be left alone other than inset balconies to replace some windows.

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Turning old office buildings into apartments in the last 25 years has created a residential community in Downtown, mostly concentrated in historic bank buildings along Spring Street and Main streets, according to Urbanize.

But there have been office-to-home conversions among newer high-rises west of the 110 Freeway, including towers at 1010 and 1100 Wilshire into respective apartments and condominiums.

Los Angeles, which has a state mandate of planning for 255,000 more homes by 2029, now looks to expand office-to-home conversions across the city.

Jamison Services, a unit of Jamison Properties, has led a growing number of developers in turning offices into condominiums or apartments as companies cut back on office leases in the era of remote work.

This month, Jamison filed plans to convert a 17-story, 144,000-square-foot office tower at 6380 Wilshire Boulevard in Carthay into 210 apartments.

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Jamison Properties' Jaime Lee; (left) 6380 Wilshire Boulevard; (right) rendering of its adaptive reuse into apartments (Getty, Linkedin, Loopnet, Next Architecture)
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— Dana Bartholomew

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